Tuesday, July 14, 2009

obama first pitch


President Obama has been making plenty of pitches to the American people and the Congress recently. But none may be as important as the one he makes tonight from the mound at the All-Star Game.

It will be Obama's first opening pitch as president and the kind of moment that television loves, if only for the possibility of a screw-up -- a wimpy throw or a wild pitch that goes awry.

Arriving in St. Louis, Obama descended the stairs of Air Force One with baseball legend Willie Mays by his side. It was Mays's first trip aboard the presidential plane, he told reporters as he spoke emotionally about Obama's election."I reminded him that I dreamed about this day," Mays said of his conversation with the president. "Not being on Air Force One, but dreamed about someone in my race being president. Not knowing that anyone would be. But I reminded him that I cried for most of the[election] night in Chicago."

Mays, who met up with Obama in Detroit, told reporters that he gave Obama just one tip for his first pitch: "Follow through."

Wearing a Chicago White Sox jacket, jeans and sneakers, and cheered by the sellout crowd at Busch Stadium, Obama walked out of the National League’s dugout on the first-base side, shook hands with Cardinals Hall of Famer Stan Musial and trotted to the mound. Obama threw lefty and didn’t have much heat on the looping toss, but Albert Pujols stepped up and made the catch before the ball hit the dirt and President Obama gave a fist pump. He gave it his best shot.

Obama is the seventh President to appear at an All-Star Game, but only the fourth to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. Check out the video below

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